Obama Sways GOP on Iraq, Loses Dems

Joe says Obama never called back; politicos talk bailouts on TV

(NEWSER) - Joe Lieberman told Meet the Press today that he regrets "some things I said in the heat of the campaign that I wish I'd said more clearly," and hopes Barack Obama will put, er, "country first" by leading in a bipartisan fashion. Lieberman said he called Obama during the campaign, but, oddly, never heard back from him, Politico reports. In other talk shows:

• On Fox News Sunday, Obama adviser David Axelrod urged the next Congress to create a new multi-billion-dollar bailout plan to create jobs, The Hill reports. “We don’t have time to waste here,” Axelrod said.

Iraq PM thinks Dem can be manipulated, writes Krauthammer

(NEWSER) - Nouri al-Maliki's endorsement of Barack Obama's timetable for withdrawal from Iraq this week was "the earliest and most ostentatious absentee ballot of this presidential election," writes Charles Krauthammer. The Washington Post columnist thinks that the Iraqi PM gave Obama an electorial assist for a clear reason: between him and John McCain, "it is no mystery who would be the more pliant US negotiator." More»

The media fawns, McCain glowers, but Obama gets raves: Dowd

(NEWSER) - The better Barack Obama’s foreign excursion goes, the more nervous Republicans get, Maureen Dowd writes in the New York Times. Images of John McCain happily sharing a golf cart with Bush 41 don’t contrast well with images of Obama happily sharing a helicopter with David Petraeus. But there is also an element of arrogance in the trip. More»

Friedman: Timetable is a political must, but with a little wiggle room

(NEWSER) - John McCain was right about the surge, so it’s natural he’s eager to talk about it. But thanks to that very success, Barack Obama finds himself, by luck or cunning, positioned perfectly, Thomas Friedman writes in the New York Times. As security improves, Iraqis want Americans to leave. If they don’t, Iraq will coalesce into a unified nation—unified against the US. More»

Iraq PM says a 16-month schedule to withdraw sounds about right

(NEWSER) - While shying away from a presidential endorsement, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki expressed support for Barack Obama’s 16-month timeline for withdrawal of American troops from Iraq, Der Spiegel reports. He expressed frustration at his country’s lack of control over US forces and said they should leave "as soon as possible, as far as we are concerned." More»